When the police told him they had no legal ground to stop it, Shepherd decided to make his own counter-statement.

“Burn a rebel flag… get a free chocolate!” the sign in front of the chocolate shop read on July 27th.

He said it was just intended as a joke, and the sign was only up for an hour.

The sign brought in so many supporters, however, that he sold out by the end of the week.

“I didn’t do this to make money,” he said. “This was not even in my realm of thinking. I was in Home Depot the other day and I got two fist bumps and a high five from people I don’t even know. They’re like a way to go, fight the fight, we’re all behind you. I’m like. ‘I just put a sign out. It was there for an hour.’”

WNCN reached out to the Confederate supporters who were in front of the shop, but none of them replied.